Yoky Matsuoka Left Apple to Return to Nest

Former Nest executive Yoky Matsuoka joined Apple in May 2016, and by December she was gone. Now we know why: she’s back at Nest helping create the company’s long-term smart home technology plans.

Nest hires Yoky Matsuoka back from Apple for new CTO role

Ms. Matsouka is now Nest’s Chief Technology Officer, according to Bloomberg and has been tasked with finding new technologies and services for the company’s products. She’ll also identify where Nest can collaborate with other Alphabet companies.

During her short-lived tenure at Apple, she was part of the health technology initiatives leadership team. Apple may have also been interested in her extensive history with robotics and artificial intelligence.

No one is saying why she left Apple. It could’ve been Nest offered her a deal that was too good to pass up, or maybe Apple’s corporate environment wasn’t a good fit. Either way, it seems she’s back where she started.

Ms. Matsouka’s new gig looks like a big win for Nest considering her expertise. In addition to robotics and AI, she was responsible for adaptive technology that let the Nest thermostat adjust itself based on past usage and current environmental conditions.

Maybe now that Ms. Matsouka is back at Nest the company will finally release a new product—something it hasn’t done since it was acquired by Google in 2014.